wow, what a terrible card. and why is Brandon Vera in the perlim fights? thats probably the 2nd best fight on the card.
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This is a poor card. Rampage should win by ko but it wouldnt be a complete shock to be if Jardine managed to outwork him to a decision.Comment
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Whether Keith Jardine is first, second, or third in the light heavyweight hierarchy, the important thing is that he’s there in the first place.
“I’m probably like the third person asked to the prom on this one, I think,” he said of his UFC 96 fight with Quinton Rampage Jackson during a media teleconference. “But I got a call and couldn’t turn it down.”
The announcement that he’d face the former UFC light heavyweight champion was dropped on fans during the telecast for UFC 93, scrapping earlier reports he would face Brazilian prospect Luis Cane at UFC 97.
It’s a familiar scenario for the Jackson MMA fighter – an extremely tough match-up with implications in the division’s hierarchy. Like his teammate and current 205-pound champion Rashad Evans, he’s got a habit of throwing a wrench in everyone’s plans – whether they’re for him, or his opponents.
Whatever happens at Saturday’s fight, though, he’s aware of his role in the sport’s marquee division, and he’s okay with it.
“They just think they’re going to get a good fight from me,” continued Jardine on the UFC’s outlook. “I like to strike. I’ve never been in a boring fight. And they’re just throwing me out there and they expect me to put on a good show, but they don’t expect me to win.”
And that’s often where Jardine is at his best. When he’s expected to lose, he wins. Recently, he lost to the heavily favored Wanderlei Silva at UFC 84, but rebounded with a win over Brandon Vera as a slight underdog at UFC 89. He’s unpredictable.
“It’s just the way things work out,” he explained. “After I lost to Wanderlei, I took the (Alexander loss) as a fluke, and then I just got caught down on the head with a big punch. And the same thing happened with Wanderlei. So I had to really take a look at myself and look at how I was approaching fighting and the way I was doing things. I was able to take that with me to fight Vera, which is one of my favorite wins. I think he’s a better striker than anybody I’ve fought, better than Forrest, better than Chuck.
“So I’m just climbing the ladder right now. Since that Wanderlei fight I feel like I started over and right now I’m 1-0 in the UFC – that’s the way I look at it.”
It’s not breaking news that a fight between Jackson and Evans would be better for business. Jardine maintains he won’t fight Evans, and the UFC has already invested in Jackson. A Jardine win could create an awkward situation for those who think title shots should be given out in a straight line. But the soft-spoken fighter says, for him, it’s not all about status or dollars and cents.
“I get to beat somebody else that used to have a title, so that’s great for me,” Jardine said. “That’s why people love this sport, is because we’re not businessmen. We’re not like NFL players; they’re trying to stay healthy and get a paycheck. We fight with all of our heart and our soul.
“How are you going to do out there and give the audience what they deserve when you’re fighting one of your best friends? That is just not going to happen.”
Jardine does promise that he'll continue to give his heart and soul, even if the top rung of the ladder may be off limits.
“I’m going to have a long career,” he said. “All of that stuff will work itself out. I have no problems up in heavyweight. I have no problem knocking out contenders either. So we’ll see. I’m in this game for a long time.”Comment
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When former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson decided to make his move to the United Kingdom and become a full time member of the Wolfslair Gym, many wonder what the end result would be. The answer came in the form of an emphatic knockout of longtime rival Wanderlei Silva at UFC 92 in December 2008.
Since that time Jackson has continued to train abroad in England with training partners like Michael Bisping and Cheick Kongo, while staying focused on getting his title back. The next step towards that goal comes by way of Keith Jardine, who opposes the Tennessee native this Saturday night at UFC 96 in Columbus, Ohio.
Speaking about Jardine, Rampage had nothing but compliments for his opponent, and he understands the skill level of the "Dean of Mean."
"I think he’s an excellent fighter," Jackson said about Jardine recently. "So you know he got big wins. He got big losses just like us all. You know what I’m saying? That don’t make a fighter, how many losses, how many wins you got, what type of fighter. Anything can happen on any given day. I like Keith’s style. He’s got a good little style. He stands up and he likes to ****. He’s a good fighter."
Coming into this fight, much like the third bout with Silva in December, Jackson draws upon a loss to gain motivation to hit the gym and train harder than he ever had before.
"After my performance with Forrest I’ve been so ashamed of myself, so every fight I’m motivated. I’m motivated to go out there and look good and win because I know what type of fighter I am," he stated. "And I was really disappointed in myself for letting myself take it to that point where I’m not motivated and I get it in my head that all of these guys are easy.
"There’s no more easy fights. I’m motivated to train hard every time."
That motivation to train has pushed Jackson that much harder when working with his new team at the Wolfslair. He gives them credit for helping him get to where he's going for this fight, and beyond.
"I chose to train at Wolf’s Lair because I see the way they train. The guys train
really hard there, no non-sense, and they’ve got really good coaches there," commented Rampage. "And a lot of people would be surprised if they came and saw how the training is there. It’s not like the best looking gym you ever want to see. They don’t care about that type of thing. All they care about is putting in hard work. And there’s a lot of guys that are training. It’s a good training environment. Everybody at the gym is a fighter. It’s the type of place where I like to train at."
Jackson also commented on the differences that a nutritional plan has made in his career, something he had never done before working with the Wolfslair.
"Actually it did make training camp better," he said about eating better before his fights. "It’s doing its job. I never ate really good. I never took supplements and stuff before. So now I’m doing it. I’m 30 years old now and so it makes a big difference."
The former light heavyweight champion says as long as he's healthy and ready he wants to keep competing this year. While he is in no way looking past Jardine, if given the choice for his next match of another shot at Forrest Griffin or a title bout against Rashad Evans, he has an answer.
"I guess I’d probably go for the title shot," Jackson said.
While a title shot seems almost virtually guaranteed with a win, Jackson remains focused on Keith Jardine at UFC 96, and everything else stays in the background.Comment
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The heavyweight division in the UFC may crown the next top contender on Saturday night as Brazilian Gabriel Gonzaga tries to take one more step towards his championship dreams as he faces undefeated prospect, Shane Carwin, in Columbus, OH at UFC 96.
For Gonzaga, the opponent has never mattered as much as the challenge, and he knows that Carwin is the real deal and a very tough opponent.
"Carwin is a big guy with great power and wrestling background. Great fighter, undefeated and (he's) been training in a great camp," Gonzaga said about his opponent in an exclusive interview with MMAWeekly.com.
On fight night, Carwin will likely step into the cage weighing well above the 265lb heavyweight limit, and as a massive fighter gives him a size and strength advantage in almost any bout. Despite his opponent's size, Gonzaga says he will not put on any extra weight to try and contend with Carwin, but will instead use his skill to test the Colorado native who has yet to go out of the first round in his professional career.
"I am training very good and I am going to this fight ready to fight three rounds if we have to," Gonzaga stated. "It will be a great fight."
Going to the ground is nothing new to Gonzaga, who holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and has competed in countless grappling tournaments. His opponent, Shane Carwin, has a tremendous pedigree in the wrestling world, which leads many to wonder if he'll test his ground work against that of Gonzaga's.
"We have to respect his wrestling skills, but I am training a lot (of) wrestling, but it would be interesting to see how we match it…his wrestling skills on top, and my BJJ on the bottom," said Gonzaga.
With the announcement on Monday that the UFC will be pitting Frank Mir against Brock Lesnar to unify the heavyweight title, Gonzaga knows that his chance at the championship could depend on this fight, but his mind is only thinking about one thing.
"The heavyweight (division) is getting better all the time with new comers, and it is awesome!" Gonzaga stated. "I would face anyone that the UFC asked me. At this point I am just focused on Carwin and after that let's see what happens."
Regardless of a future title shot or not, Gonzaga thinks that 2009 will be his year, and Shane Carwin is the first obstacle in his way.
"I think 2009 is going to be my year," said Gonzaga. "I hope at the end of the year have the belt on my waist."Comment
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For every fighter, there’s that moment when you hit the crossroads in a real match and get formally initiated into the ranks. For Mark Munoz, the gut check came in the opening moments of his June 2008 WEC bout with Chuck Grigsby, when the 6-foot-6 slugger nailed him with a potent right uppercut.
Munoz’s head snapped back, he wobbled ever so slightly, then resumed circling.
“It was right on the chin. It was good. I thought he was far away from me, and I was circling away, and he had such a long reach. You know, when he hit me with it, I thought, ‘We’re in a fight now,’” said Munoz, 5-0, of the toughest moment of his career. “’OK. I’ve really got to move my head, close the gap and get to where I want to be.’ It put a sense of urgency in me.”
Munoz did just that, taking Grigsby down, where he delivered a series of right hands while standing, tossed Grigsby’s legs aside and smashed him into defeat for a jolting finish.
Munoz’s WEC career consisted of the Grigsby fight and a first-round stoppage of Ricardo Barros before the division was scrapped by the organization. But now he is set to debut on another big stage, against Matt Hamill this Saturday at UFC 96.
A state champion who grew up in Vallejo (a few miles east of San Francisco), Munoz now lives in Mission Viejo, conveniently located between San Diego and Los Angeles, where he shuttles around meeting the prescribed training regimen for each particular day.
“I go to wherever I need go,” said Munoz, who is a married father of four. “Jokers Wild Fighting Academy at Lake Forest, Babalu (Sobral’s) gym in Cerritos. I’ll go down to San Diego and train with Brandon Vera, and the Gracie gym in Torrance.”
He also has sessions with Jake Shields.
“Jake is awesome, a wizard on the ground,” Munoz said of the last and only EliteXC welterweight champ. “He teaches me a lot as far as interweaving wrestling with jiu-jitsu. He’s a vital asset to me and a great training partner.”
Munoz went from a virtual unknown to another promising blip on the sport’s radar with the nationally televised win over Grigsby, but his tales of gym prowess are quickly developing him a name among fighters and those close to the sport. Urijah Faber, who pestered him for months to turn pro, calls him “an animal.”
Fellow northern California high school wrestler Rick Randolph was three years ahead of Munoz in high school, took seventh in state and knows the name from way back. Randolph, who is gunning for the Gladiator Challenge heavyweight belt the same night Munoz battles Hamill, had high praise for the 2001 NCAA champ as well. He believes the much-hyped “wrestler versus wrestler” angle of the Hamill-Munoz matchup won’t turn out to be as competitive as many think.
“He’s just a dominant, dominant guy,” Randolph said. “Mark Munoz is an NCAA national champion. That’s not good (for Hamill). Mark Munoz is a ridiculous wrestler. It’s not even in the same category. That’s essentially where he’s at. Hamill’s good, but the wrestling is not gonna be an issue. The wrestling will be dominated by Munoz. When you go with a guy at that level, it’s like, ‘How did you dominate me?’”
Or there’s James Irvin’s summation of grappling with Munoz, offered up in a January 2007 conversation with this writer before Munoz turned pro and was still prepping for his debut.
“It’s bad,” Irvin said, shaking his head. “Really, really bad.”
Manager Mike Roberts said that Munoz’s standup has improved since the Grigsby fight.
“A lot of people are going to be surprised when they see him out-strike Hamill,” Roberts said. “He’s been working on everything to become the total package. And the grappling will be dominated by Mark.”
Munoz is excited to get the chance to tangle with Hamill, whose improvement since his appearance on “The Ultimate Fighter” has been considerable.
Once strictly relegated to a wrestling-based approach, Hamill has developed some striking and seems to have the kind of natural aggression and will to carry him through rough spots. He lost a disputed decision to Michael Bisping, bounced back with a quality win over Tim Boetsch, was stopped by Rich Franklin and rebounded again to pound out Reese Andy. He’s a pretty tough opponent to take on during your first appearance under the UFC banner. Welcome to the neighborhood, kid.
“It’s a great matchup for me. Wrestler versus wrestler. But it’s not gonna be a wrestling match,” Munoz said. “It’s gonna be, I feel like, whomever has adjusted to MMA better. That’s going to win the fight. All the in-between techniques. The transitions between wrestling and other disciplines. It’s going to be an interesting fight. I’d like it to be exciting. I know Matt Hamill’s gonna want to stand. In a lot of fights, he uses his wrestling sporadically. I like to use wrestling to set up other things.
“I think obviously his strength is his takedowns. But I haven’t seen much ground game from him. I’ve seen a lot of front headlock punches, and once he gets guys tired and worn down, he’s like a juggernaut. He keeps coming forward. He wears them out with those front headlock punches, dirty boxing punches. Uses wrestling to tire the guys out, but I haven’t really seen him doing ground-and-pound when he’s in guard or half-guard.”
Nonetheless, Munoz still has a big challenge in front of him. But he’s used to making his own breaks.
A high school state champion at 189 pounds, Munoz was asked to cut to 167 by the legendary John Smith after joining the Oklahoma State University wrestling squad. He complied for the first two years, torturing himself to make a weight that simply wasn’t right for him. He’d argue back and forth with Smith, citing declining performance as the season went on as evidence he wasn’t suited to wrestle that light. Finally, one summer, determined to force the issue, Munoz lifted like a maniac and came into the first practice of the season at 236 pounds. He proceeded to beat up on a blue-chip recruit Smith had pegged for the 197-pound slot. The point had been made -- and he made NCAA All-American his junior year and took the championship in his final season.
Munoz still says he wants to move like a boxer, kick like a muay Thai expert when necessary and embrace the realm when the moment is right. It’s not just about wrestling, but rather the mix of disciplines that excites him. But at the end of the day, he figures he can always take it to the ground, and he wants more finishes like the Grigsby one that fans will notice.
“I kind of want that to be my signature,” Munoz said. “Once it’s on the ground, I feel so comfortable. Because I love the ground. That’s my home. I feel that if they try to submit me, I have great knowledge as far as submission defense that I can scramble out of them.”
And after mixing in the new skills he’s been working on, Munoz figures he and Hamill will eventually settle the wrestling question en route to the finish.
“I haven’t seen much ground (work) from him. Obviously, his standup’s gotten a lot better,” he said. “His weaknesses are, I believe, in his ground game on his back. Nobody’s ever put him there. So yeah, I’m looking to put him on his back.”Comment
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